By the Numbers Read online

  "Yeah." Trey chuckled and sat on the ground. He was immediately overrun with puppies, but he didn't seem to mind. "Go to the gym, change my shorts. Get a call, change my shorts. Get another call, change my shorts. Wake up in the morning, change my shorts. I bring at least three T-shirts and four pairs of boxers in my gear bag every shift."

  "Huh. The secret life of firefighters." Deuce grinned and pulled a puppy off Trey's arm, where it was trying to get a stranglehold on his sleeve. "No biting, you. So, aside from Q, do you have a preference for one of the dogs yet?" He sat down and kept the puppy he had, getting his wrist licked for his trouble.

  Trey looked thoughtful as he gazed over the mass of wriggling pups. He reached out and plucked one from the pile and held it up to his face. The puppy was a male, mostly white except for a few gray splotches on its back, and it gazed back at him solemnly. Its wagging tail was the only moving part.

  "This one's always so calm. Is that normal for puppies? Maybe it's got brain damage." Trey moved his face closer to the puppy and got a lick on his nose in return.

  "It doesn't have brain damage." Deuce laughed at him and moved his hand before the licks could turn into nips. "He's just a quiet boy. Which, you know, is probably exactly what you want, especially for your little girl to play with."

  "I guess so." Trey put the puppy in his lap. Instead of trying to wriggle away, the pup seemed content just to stay where he was. He got stepped on once or twice by random littermates, but it didn't bother him. "Yeah, this one." Trey smiled and ran his fingers through the soft fur. "What do I call it?"

  "That's entirely up to you -- I'm not going to name your dog, man." He looked at the puppy and then at the other male in the litter, who had a black mark on his nose. "I've been calling that one Jimmy, and the one in your lap Tommy, but I suggest you change that before it sticks."

  "Tommy." Trey looked amused by that. "Well, he's always the last one to get his dinner from his mom. And he's never the first one to get over to play with me when I'm here." Trey picked up the puppy and looked in his face again, but kept speaking to Deuce. "And since you're number two and I'm number three... I'll call this one Six." He knew that they’d sort of agreed on letting Lacey name it, but the idea had suddenly come to him and Trey couldn’t ignore it.

  Deuce grinned and nodded. "I like it." He did. It was different and clever. "We should get him a collar soon, so we can take him on walks when you come over."

  "Okay. What about the others? Are you keeping one?"

  "I haven't decided." He'd thought about it, and he thought that maybe Q would like to have one of her offspring with her, but he had a looming and perpetual issue. "It all depends on where I wind up living."

  "No word on that, huh?" Trey asked the same thing each time he came over.

  Deuce made a face. "They've halted work at the building for some reason, and I've heard that they're going to be re-doing the rental agreements. I don't know if they'll allow pets at all, now, or how long it'll take before I can move back in, if they do let me keep Q. I think I should just start looking for a new place all together, but I have no idea what I'm looking for. Inertia kept me there for years." He had to roll his eyes at himself. "Lame, huh?"

  "Not lame." Trey lay back on the warm grass, but three of the puppies thought that was a signal to play and tug at his hair. He sat up again with a laugh and tumbled the dogs to their backs. "It just means you were comfortable there." He paused for a moment, apparently thinking about something. "You know... there's always my place. Until you decide what you want to do or your apartment becomes available again. I'm not home a lot. You can pay rent on my guest bedroom, if you want to." Trey kept his eyes on the puppy that was still resting in his lap.

  "What, me and the dogs?" Deuce laughed. "You have no idea."

  "Well, how long until you can let three or four of them go to new homes?"

  "Four or five," Deuce said, laughing. "Probably another week. I have two spoken for now, and someone at work is asking around for the others. They'll go -- people love puppies -- but I want to make sure they're going good places."

  "So move in a week. Seriously, I'm home a lot less than your friend is. My place is bigger, and you'd have your own bathroom. I even have a laundry room, so you don't have to keep the dogs with you all the time. Like I said, you can pay rent if you feel like you need to. Just until you find somewhere to go. What do you think?" Trey finally looked up at Deuce expectantly.

  "You're serious." Clearly he was. Deuce narrowed his eyes and pried a puppy off his pant leg. "Do you have a fenced yard?"

  "Uh-huh." Trey nodded and leaned back on his hands. "The only place they could escape would be through the side gate door. It's wrought-iron and has big open spaces in it, but that's easy to fix with a couple of boards and my table saw. Otherwise, my yard is surrounded by a brick retaining wall on all sides." Trey grinned at him. "I'd even be willing to put in a doggie door on the slider in the kitchen. Temporary one, I mean."

  "You have a table saw?" That could seal the deal. "I like a man with power tools."

  "I have a table saw. And a chainsaw, and an air compressor. I changed my own oil last week. Want me to do yours?"

  Deuce wasn't sure if that was a flirt or not, so he did what he always did -- jumped in without testing the waters. "Oh, yes. I really, really do." He turned up the heat in his smile, just for a moment.

  Trey looked flustered, but only for a moment, and it was so fast that it could have been missed. "Okay," he agreed with a nod. "When you're down to three dogs or less, give me a call. I'll put new sheets on for you. And buy extra motor oil."

  Deuce laughed. He couldn't do anything but laugh. "Okay, you're on. And thank you -- from me, from Q, and probably from Pete most of all."

  "No problem. I have Lacey next Wednesday through Saturday, so maybe I can bring her by here to let her play with the dogs. Uh, if that's okay, I mean. She's a good girl. Quiet. Reads a lot. Loves animals." Trey sounded as if he felt like he needed to prepare Deuce for being around a seven-year-old.

  "I'm sure she's awesome." Deuce had no issues with children at all -- just bad parenting. He was reasonably sure that Trey, no matter what he said about his ex-wife, was a good parent and that Lacey's mom was probably doing a fine job as a mom, even if she wasn't so great as a wife. "And of course you can bring her by. Any time at all. The puppies would love to have someone else to climb on."

  "Yeah, she'd love that. I'll bring her over," Trey said and looked slightly relieved, as if he'd been worried that Deuce might have said no or been a secret child-hater or something. Trey picked up the newly-named Six and brought the puppy close to his face again. "You and me, kid. Hope you don't mind staying alone sometimes." He looked up at Deuce. "You might have to be my permanent dog-sitter."

  "I don't think that'll be a problem." Deuce smiled at him and then grimaced as tiny teeth grabbed his thumb and his attention. "Hey, you. That's not the way to act." He grabbed the puppy and gave it a tummy rub, laughing. "So pushy."

  The pup wriggled with delight. Trey plopped Six down next to his littermate and did the same thing, rubbing the puppy's belly until it looked as if the stubby little tail was going to wag itself right off the dog.

  "So, what've you got going on today?" Trey asked. "And what day is it? Why aren't you at work, if it's a weekday?"

  "It's Thursday." Deuce was only a little surprised that Trey's days ran together. "I decided to work from home this afternoon because I knew you had today off, and hoped you'd stop by."

  "You did? I mean... oh. That's cool." Trey gave a shy smile but didn't break eye contact. "I guess the dogs weren't the only thing I wanted to see."

  Well, that was progress. "Good." Deuce nodded at him and gave Trey his best friendly smile, as opposed to the leering smile. "Since we're going to share a place, it'd be good if we look forward to seeing each other. What kind of movies and TV do you like? I don't watch a lot, but I lean toward comedies and good special effects. I have a
lot of DVDs that you're welcome to use, is why I'm asking."

  "You do?" Trey perked up and gave a half-smile. "Can I take them to work to watch on my laptop? I'm good with comedies. And special effects, if you mean shit blows up."

  "I mean lots and lots of explosions, yes. What else is there, really? And of course you can take them to work." He was pretty sure that they'd all come home, too, and if one or two went missing, so what? It wasn't like he'd never lost a DVD before. "You can go through them all when I move in."

  "Cool." Trey lay back down on the grass and watched the puppies flop down for their mid-hour nap. "You can invite friends over and stuff, if you want. Once in a while I call a couple of guys and we barbecue on the patio. My friends are cool. We all outgrew the bar and club scene, thank Christ. Some guys never do." Trey paused and looked stricken for a moment. "I mean, that's cool if you still like to party."

  "Oh, yeah, that's me. I'm huge into the scene." Deuce had no idea where the scene was. Or what it was. "Nah, I'm kind of a homebody. My dirty little secret is that I stay up really late at night reading sometimes."

  Trey laughed. "Right, I forgot for a minute you were a computer nerd. What do you read? Probably not those wizard books. I don't think Lacey reads those yet, anyway."

  "I love those. I've read them all more than once." Deuce nodded. "I have all the DVDs, too. Mostly I read thrillers, though. Or mysteries, or literature, or bestsellers. A lot of fiction. Biographies." Deuce grinned, pulled out his wallet, and produced a card. "My library card has a wear mark on it."

  "Wow. A real library card. I've heard of those." Trey reached out and snatched it from Deuce's hand with a twinkle in his eye. "I'm holding it for ransom."

  Deuce bit back half a dozen inappropriate responses. There were so many ways he could take the discussion into territory that Trey was probably not ready for -- and then he'd have to find a new place to live before he'd even packed a bag. He did roll to his knees and crawl toward his library card, making a grab for the one puppy that was still awake. "And what," he asked, "is the cost for its safe return? It means a great deal to me, you evil kidnapper."

  Trey seemed to make an effort to hold the card up and away from Deuce, but not too far. "Come over for dinner before you move in. Check the place out; make sure you like it. I'll keep your card till you do."

  "Jeez, you better mean soon -- I only have one more book to go before I'm due for a trip there." Deuce made a play for the card and neatly fell across Trey's legs. Very smooth, one of his better loser moves. "Damn it." He hadn't even gotten near the card.

  To his credit, Trey didn't pull away. "I mean tomorrow. I don't work until Saturday."

  "Sweet." Deuce righted himself. "That'll be perfect timing, then." He gave Trey his very best 'I totally meant to do that move that made me look dumb' smile. "I'll bring wine."

  "Damn, you're fancy." Trey laughed and didn't look in the least concerned that Deuce had been sprawled across his lower body. "I drink wine when I go to my parents'. Or when Holly used to order it for me. Do you know the wine thing, too?"

  "What wine thing?"

  "Like what wine goes with what food. The ones that have an oaky flavor with undertones of sweet cherry or white grape." Trey made a face. "I never tasted anything but wine. My palate is clearly untrained."

  "I'm better at telling you what beer has more hops than the next, honestly, but I do have a favorite white and a favorite red. I'll bring both and we'll figure out from there which one goes best with the food." Deuce wasn't above a little social lubrication. In fact, he was a big fan of lubrication.

  Trey appeared to be considering it. "All right," he consented. "As long as you don't make fun of me if I choose the wrong one to go with whatever I make. Oh, any allergies or anything?"

  "No allergies and I like just about everything. I'm not very fussy when it comes to food." He was fussy about time, the state of the bathroom, and his laundry, but not food.

  "That's a good thing," Trey laughed. "I'm not the world's fanciest cook. Firehouse food is probably what you'll get."

  "Chili, pasta, or pizza?"

  "Heh. On nights when I don't want to make an effort. But hey, we eat better than that at work. Some of our guys know their way around the kitchen. When you move in, I'll call you if we're having something good and you can come down for dinner."

  Deuce raised his eyebrows. "You can do that? Just have company for supper?"

  "Yeah, all the time. It's a busy station, though. You run the risk of having to sit there with guys you don't know if my engine gets a call."

  "Let me think. Sitting at a table with a bunch of firefighters in uniform. I think I'm good." Deuce grinned and winked. "I know guys who would be heaven, trust me."

  Trey cocked his head and looked, for a moment, like one of the puppies. "Really? You've got gay friends?" It sounded like a foreign concept to Trey.

  Deuce checked to make sure Trey wasn't kidding -- he didn't seem to be. "Of course. Not all of my friends are gay, but most are, I'd say. At least, almost all of my acquaintances. Guys I've met at parties or events, guys I've hung out with, couples that have been 'couple friends' when I've been dating someone."

  "I haven't dated." Trey said it matter-of-factly and without a trace of sadness or regret. "I was married for eight years. We had couple friends, but they were straight. And most of my buddies are firemen. Really straight."

  "And you're only... sort of straight?" A little confirmation in direct words was always a good thing. Deuce could read signals, could play games, and could figure things out, but he'd found that clear statements were usually the best way to go about the important things.

  Trey gave Deuce a rueful-looking smile. "Nah, I figured out the hard way that there was no 'straight' in the equation, sort of or otherwise. I won't go as far as saying it fucked up my marriage, because Holly and I did that all by ourselves. But I probably should have realized earlier that 'bisexual' wasn't really bisexual. I did get a kid out of it, though."

  "That's more than a lot of us can say. I myself just got a huge complex about where to put my hands when slow dancing. It's amazing how the early agony can stay with you." One mislaid hand on a girl's butt and Deuce still couldn't stop a shudder when power ballads were played at wedding dances. "It's good you got it figured out, though. And you still don't date?"

  "I didn't say I don't date. I said I haven't dated." Trey grinned, all straight white teeth and the hint of a small dimple in his left cheek. "At least, not the kind of date you mean. Get someone's number, call and ask them out kind of date."

  "But you have interest in dating?" Deuce wasn't going to let that sort of thing go by without making sure.

  "I guess so. What do the kids do on dates these days?" Trey sounded as if he really wanted to know.

  "Mostly eat and dance." Deuce grinned. "A lot of wine bars, a lot of night clubs. I prefer the dinner and a movie kind of date, but going dancing is okay. I've gotten past the all night rave type events, though." He was far too old for dancing half the night and then staying up the rest of it trying to get his body back in balance.

  Trey shook his head. "I've been to raves. Not as a partier, though. When I worked at Station Four on the water, we were always getting calls for the old SeaCliff warehouse. Some poor kid would OD, or get roofied, or drink enough to drown his internal organs."

  "Uh-huh. I've seen it. And really, aside from the nearly naked guys, there was never enough to hold me there. I didn't like the music that much, and they never started until after my bedtime." Deuce gave Q a pet. "Like I said, I prefer the dinner and something type dates, generally. Or afternoon things like ballgames or hikes. Cup of coffee and talking, wandering around places; that sort of thing."

  Trey spoke quietly. "I, uh. I kind of like museums and stuff. My mom took me to a lot of them when I was little. My brothers always ran around and made lots of noise, but I liked how peaceful they were. She ended up leaving my brothers at home and just taking me. We c
ould maybe do that sometime." He paused for a moment as if reviewing what he'd just said. "I mean, if I was ever going to go on a date. That's where I'd like to go."

  Deuce gave him another smile, letting this one grow hot. "Yeah. We can do that. I'll ask you, once I figure out this schedule of yours. Or you can ask me. I'll say yes, if that makes it easier."

  "I guess it doesn't matter." Trey looked up and smiled back, a cross between shy and interested. "Long as I know you'd like to go. And that reminds me." He reached around to tug something out of his back pocket. "Here's a pocket shift calendar. I'm the green numbers."

  Deuce leaned forward to take the card and brushed his fingers along Trey's. "Thanks. This'll be a real help, 'specially after I move in. I'll know what nights not to worry when you don't get home."

  Trey didn't let go immediately, looking as if he enjoyed the contact. "I don't go out that much. If I'm not home, I'm at work. And there's the little matter of Lacey. She'll be with me for a few days at a time."

  "Cool. I look forward to meeting her. Do you want me to clear out while she's with you?"

  "Nah. She's a good kid. Reads, mostly. We go out to dinner, and I'll take her to a movie now and then, but she never asks for stuff and is totally fine with staying home, too. I hope it lasts, because I hear really bad shit about teenage girls from the older guys at work." Trey looked uncomfortable just thinking about it.

  "I'm sure you'll handle it just fine when the time comes." Deuce thought for a moment. "If she's into it, we can get her into training the dogs. Doing things like agility or fly ball, when she's older. For now just learning how to teach them commands might keep her interested."

  "Oh, she'll love it. She's been asking for a pet since she was five. I'm sure she'll go home and ask her mother if she can live with me full time. That'll be another reason for Holly to call me up and yell."

  "She can yell at me -- I'm a real prick when women start getting shrill at me. But not when Lacey's around, promise." He'd have to remember to watch himself when the child was over for the weekend -- not so much his language but his subject matter. Deuce glanced around at the puppies. "Are we missing one?"